1995 N.H.L. PLAYOFFS

By ALEX YANNIS

Published: June 19, 1995

DETROIT, June 18—
The circumstances were not the most favorable. The sight and smell of octopus and the wizardry of the Red Wings were elements the Devils had never experienced in Boston, Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, their three previous playoff stops.

Detroit, after all, was the best team in hockey during the regular season and unbeatable in the playoffs at Joe Louis Arena. Its coach, Scotty Bowman, is a genius with six Stanley Cup championships to his credit. Its roster is filled with stars. The town is hockey crazy, starving for a Stanley Cup championship after a 40-year drought.

But all these obstacles were brushed aside by the Devils in no more than five minutes, or after about a half-dozen octopuses -- who's counting? -- had been tossed onto the ice. The Devils played a vintage playoff game that led to a 2-1 victory, a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals and the real possibility that a victory parade is headed for New Jersey.

With Coach Jacques Lemaire directing the traffic, the Devils employed the same ingredients that have taken them this far. They played with patience; they checked hard; they stifled most of Detroit's attacks before they even started.

The result was just 17 shots on goal for a powerful Red Wing team that had averaged 36.3 shots a game in the playoffs and had won all eight games at home before facing the Devils. Two weeks ago, the Devils had opened the Stanley Cup semifinals in Philadelphia with a 4-1 victory over the Flyers. It was a convincing statement that they duplicated in Detroit.

"We were able to apply our system," said Ken Daneyko, the rugged and reliable Devil defenseman who is three victories from the cup after a decade in the league. "Our coaching staff demands we stay focused, stay patient and jump onto the play the moment there is a turnover."

Although the Devils played a near-perfect game, Lemaire and his players appear to be listening to lectures from Lou Lamoriello, the president and general manager of the Devils, whose motto is "I'm never happy."

"I looked at the tape this morning and then I looked again," Lemaire said after making today's practice an optional one for his team. "To me, it's just one game that we played. We can play better than we did."

"Obviously, when you keep a team like that to 17 shots," said the Devils' captain, Scott Stevens, "you're doing a good job taking away the dangerous scoring areas and keeping the middle of the ice clean. They hit a couple posts, though, which means that we still have to do a better job."

Detroit, having lost the home-ice advantage in a series that continues here on Tuesday night, was not about to concede.

"The game was close for the most part," said Bowman after putting his team through practice today. "We had 38 shots directed at their net, three of them hit the metal. The other 35 were either wide or blocked by their defensemen. The other thing is that they took advantage of their opportunities," Bowman said.

One of those opportunities came after a face-off in the first period. The Devils did well all night on face-offs against the Red Wings and in this instance, Neal Broten, squaring off against Steve Yzerman, got control of the puck, drew it back to Tommy Albelin, who sent it across ice to Stephane Richer, who cashed in a power-play goal 9 minutes 41 seconds into the game.

After Dino Ciccarelli tied it for Detroit with 6:52 left in the second period, Claude Lemieux scored the winner at 3:17 of the final period, his league-leading 12th goal of the playoffs.

The game winner began in the neutral zone, where Tom Chorske had dumped the puck into the Detroit end. John MacLean got to it before anyone else and unleashed a shot that rebounded off Mike Vernon, the Detroit goaltender. Lemieux sensed an opportunity, and he pounced on the puck and sent it past Vernon.

It was the 14th playoff game winner in Lemieux's career, putting him in seventh place on the career list, a list that starts with Wayne Gretzky and Maurice (the Rocket) Richard.

"Claude always plays good in the playoffs," Lemaire said. "He gets excited because he knows he has to face the top player from the other team."

With Lemieux and Richer scoring, with Martin Brodeur strong in the net, with Lemaire making the right moves behind the bench, it was a great night for the Devils' French-Canadiens. And it was a fine night for the rest of the Devils, too.